Panasonic D3 or D5 Experts anywhere?

[dayoff]

Does anyone have any experience with Panasonic D5 recordings?

I have some 'very early' D3 and D5 projects, that I originally created in Standard Def on a AJ-D580 unit back in.... 1994ish. If I recall, we could use the D3 tapes in the D5 deck, as the D5 deck had an adapter board in it for playback.

However, in 2025: What machine options do I have for playback?

I sent them out for conversion and I believe they used an AJ-HD2000 D5 deck and they could play the audio, but not the video... Is the AJD580 the only playback option? Were the later "Digital HD" model units like the 2000 and 3700 both incompatible with playing back the earlier D5 tapes?

Any info is appreciated!

Pete

[dellsam34]

I don't have any experience with any D format but common knowledge is D3 is digital composite, D5 is digital uncompressed component, If a D5 machine did not playback your tapes that means they are D3, look for a digital composite machine or send them to someone with both machines so they'll have a better chance at playing them back.

[dayoff]

These are definitely D5 tapes...I even took photos of the units that I was using (long story)... I know there are a couple D3 tapes in the mix, but they were tagged as D3

[dellsam34]

Maybe the HD units don't playback SD D5 tapes as you mentioned, That's the only explanation I can think of.